NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 5 August
05-08-2009
by Emmet Cole
New search engine to create 20 jobs | Google acquires video compression firm
Irish search engine start-up Mugurdy has become the first company to enter the Guinness Enterprise Centre's Microsoft BizSpark cluster. The move is expected to accelerate the global launch of the Mugurdy search engine and to create 20 new high-level jobs by the end of 2010. The Mugurdy search engine is an image-based service that displays real-time website screenshots in the results field. The firm expects to launch the search engine globally before the end of this year.
Irish telecommunications firm Digiweb has launched a new managed services portfolio for the Irish market. In its attempt to become a one-stop-shop for managed IT and communications services, Digiweb has upgraded and expanded its datacentre, network operation centre and core fibre network in time for the launch. Digiweb's offering includes managed connectivity, managed security, managed voice, managed data and managed IT services. The company expects up to 1,000 new business customers to use its managed services offerings over the next 12 months.
UPC Ireland, the owner of Chorus ntl, recorded an increase in revenue and profit for the second quarter of 2009, according to figures from its parent company Liberty Global. With currency movements taken into account, revenue came in at EUR61.9 million, a 1.1 percent rise on the year-ago quarter. Operating cash flow was USD35.3 million in the second quarter, representing a year-on-year increase of 13.6 percent. The firm had 121,000 broadband customers by the end of the second quarter, a 36 percent increase on the same period last year.
Meanwhile, Chorus ntl unveiled its new High Definition Digital + TV service for Ireland on Wednesday. Featuring a range of programmes from channels including BBC HD, Discovery HD, the History Channel HD, National Geographic HD, National Geographic Wild HD, and Crime & Investigation HD, the service also includes the ability to pause, record and rewind up to 140 hours of live television. The HD Digital+ set-top box delivers a high-resolution picture up to five times higher than typical television signals along with Dolby Digital surround sound, according to the company.
Worldwide spending on internet advertising contracted for the second consecutive quarter, by 5 percent to USD13.9 billion from USD14.7 billion in the same quarter a year ago, according to market analysts IDC. The research firm found that all global regions posted losses, with the exception of the Asia/Pacific region and Japan, which saw slight gains in the second quarter. In the US, spending declined for the second quarter in a row, by 7 percent year-over-year, to USD6.2 billion from USD6.6 billion. All major advertising formats saw year-over-year revenue losses in the US: display ads dropped 12 percent, while classifieds shrunk by 17 percent. All major US publishers' ad sales also declined, for the most part at double-digit loss rates, with Google being the only exception, posting low single-digit growth. Monster.com was worst affected, with a 31 percent decline.
Google has announced that it is planning to acquire On2 Technologies, a provider of digital video compression technology. The all-stock deal is valued at USD106.5 million. On2 helps shrink video files so they can be sent more easily across the web, a technology that could prove useful for Google, since it owns the popular YouTube video-sharing website. Google expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 